MADNESS AND ARROGANCE – 12 AGAINST

Recorded live at PANDA platforma “Jazz & Experimental in Berlin” – February 12th, 2022 Recording Engineer: Gerd Polderman
Sounddesign & Mastering: Christian Betz
Sleeve design: Jan-Henning Raff

Produced by Gschlößl/Schmolling
All music by Gerhard Gschlößl and Marc Schmolling

Trouble in the East Records 028

No, the two musicians whose encounter is documented on this record at the Trouble In The East Label Night No. 4 of the Berlin-based PANDA Platforma are not succumbing to either bright or dark madness, nor to open or hidden arrogance. Neurotic and arrogant people have an opinion about everything but no songs. Gerhard Gschlößl and Marc Schmolling are the functioning counterpoint: their music stems from conversation, from subtle listening, from mutual respect, from the sparking ping-pong game of their ideas that come together in a live atmosphere that couldn’t be more inspiring. Their music needs no categorization, no labeling – it is simply fun, wonderful, and incredibly good. The two musicians, who have been “on the road” in various line-ups for years, expand the playing and sonic potential of their instruments and musical material in their joint concert. The foundation is defined as E.D.O. (Equal Division of the Octave) in the first piece, “Twelve Against Many.” Gerhard Gschlößl and Marc Schmolling visibly enjoy expanding their instruments into new realms beyond the 12-tone division. Their motto: Everything is possible. And what seems impossible, they make possible. Both musicians send each energetic tone sequence to their partner with unmistakable physical and physiognomic comments. Their emotions determine the sound. Here, two absolute masters of subtle sounds play, telling stories, reflecting personal experiences, and having no fear of swinging or grooving. Both are equally inspired by the past, present, and future of jazz. Gamorreans from the Star Wars universe waltzing while fleeing from New York, in a tautological reversal, searching for the Brandenburg Dragonfly Monster. The travel reading: the humorous novel “Saturnin” by Zdeněk Jirotka, now a classic of Czech literature published in 1942. Madness & Arrogance as an imaginary soundtrack for an imaginary film? Sound and rhythm are sometimes asynchronous, but always equal, blurring the boundaries between the past and the present. Nothing is so crazy that it couldn’t generate the basis of a new normalcy. Rainer Bratfisch

Gerhard Gschlößl grew up in Germany, studied trombone and composition in Würzburg and has lived in Berlin since 2004. The trombone & stuba player belongs to a new scene, which has been successfully freed from the traditional labels of jazz and moved in a wide field of improvised music. Ulrich Steinmetzger about Gerhard Gschlößl: Very agile, muscular and close to the current base the trombonist has developed his personal style. Nothing here is cosmetically polished or coated ambitious. His music is credible because it comes with corners and edges, because it does not hide the dirt that is part of life. This is neither strict mainstream nor pure avant-garde. You can hear the whence and suspect a where.Gerhard about music:
I like to work with improvisation and composition using musical tools such as the parameters of melody, rhythm, tone and dynamics. One of my goals is to be able to move around freely within and outside prescribed forms and meters and to act independently of clichés or stylistic constraints.

The composer and pianist Marc Schmolling, son of the poet Inka Machulková, one of the leading figures in the Prague literary scene and Czech Beat Generation of the 1960s, studied at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich with Larry Porter and Tizian Jost. He also received further instruction at Stanford University in California from Horace Silver, Benny Green, and Steve Coleman. He completed his studies in Munich in 1997 and has since worked as a pianist in the German and European jazz scene. Schmolling has been living in Berlin since 2006 and, in addition to his solo concerts, pursues other projects with notable musicians from the European contemporary jazz and improvisation scene.The Marc Schmolling Trio, with Jonas Westergaard on bass and Christian Lillinger on drums, was nominated for the Quarterly Prize of the German Record Critics for their album “Live in Berlin/Vol. 1” (Wizmar Records) in 2010. In 2008, Marc Schmolling won the 1st Prize at the Jazz Award Berlin. His album “Ticho” (Czech for “Silence”), featuring British trumpeter Tom Arthurs and vocalist Almut Kühne, was released in January 2015 on the Swiss label Unit Records.Since 2017, the formation has been playing in a new lineup with Bulgarian violinist Biliana Voutchkova, performing their current program “Angels.” In 2018, the album “Approaching Eyjafjallajökull” by the duo “Madness & Arrogance” with trombonist Gerhard Gschlößl was released on the label “Trouble-In-The-East-Records.”Marc Schmolling’s solo debut album, “Not So Many Stars,” was released in 2016 as the first release on his label “Schmollingstones” and received excellent reviews from the specialized press. His second solo album, “Suvenýr,” was released in June 2020 and landed in the Top Ten recommendations of the magazine “New York City Jazz Record.”